Midwest Psychodrama

A valentine for psychodrama & constellation book from Francesca Mason Boring

2012-01-31T08:03:00.000-06:00

So pleased to have this Valentine! It's a review from Francesca Mason Boring, author of Notes from the Indigenous Field: Family Constellation, Ceremony and Ritual and an internationally known facilitator and teacher of Systems Constellation.

She says:

Integrating Psychodrama and Systemic Constellation Work: New Directions for Action Methods, Mind-body Therapies and Energy Healing by Karen Carnabucci and Ronald Anderson is an engaging book and a valuable new contribution to the ever-expanding field of Family Constellation.

This book is not a duplication of the wonderful growing number of references available to the practitioners of constellation work. The authors write: "It is not our intention to repeat what has been written separately about psychodrama and constellation work…Rather we intend to fill the gaps of knowledge that exist with practitioners of each method, correct bits of misinformation about psychodrama and especially show how each method compliments and advances the other."

This book is efficient in meeting that goal, having perhaps one of the most extensive bibliographies in constellation literature available in the English language. However, it goes beyond a comparative work. Carnabucci and Anderson crafted a highly interesting intimate journey into the development and evolution of family constellation and psychodrama.

There were comparative overviews of criteria for client readiness coming from each discipline, which differed, and yet could certainly serve each other. For facilitators of both methods, the comparison provides suggestions for constructive growth in approach.

The fascinating gifts and limitations of the primary developers of these separate, and yet perhaps complimentary works are fascinating:

This book invites those interested in knowing more about Family Constellation to a good introduction to the fundamentals and provides an impressive overview of the development of Family Constellation. The book is alive with case studies and applications of the method in the full spectrum of human relationships. One of the chapters gives a hint as to the style of the work: Assessment, an adventure into the being of the person gives.

This book has a multitude of practical applications, it is informative and it is a unique discussion. What it also provides is an adventure for the reader. It leaves one with a sense that these innovations require -- to some degree -- a sense of adventure, a willingness to stand on new ground, a guide who is fearless albeit sometimes defined as eccentric, and for those who are willing to venture out, oftentimes such a journey produces a humbling and healing result.

Congratulations to Karen Carnabucci and Ronald Anderson for undertaking such a journey, and sincere thanks for sharing it with the many who will be eager to be so definitively enriched.

A book on how to do psychodrama for two

2012-01-06T08:33:00.000-06:00

Many counselors are familiar with psychodrama as a powerful group counseling method. Some counselors have not applied the method to individual counseling. Since I do a great deal of individual psychotherapy with psychodrama and other experiential components, I'm always appreciative of the opportunity to spread the word about psychodrama a deux -- which translates into "psychodrama for one" as Dr. J.L. Moreno used to call it.

Marvin G. Knittel's new book COUNSELING And DRAMA: PSYCHODRAMA A DEUX comprehensively shows psychodrama as an individual counseling approach through nine case studies covering such topics as search for meaning, sexual abuse, family counseling, depression and more.

A recent issue of Psychodrama News Network pointed out that Knittel's book is the only book in English dealing specifically with psychodrama a deux.

Knittel taught psychodrama classes for more than 20 years during his tenure as professor of counselor education at the University of Nebraska at Kearney and used psychodrama individually with clients in his private practice as many years.

This is an ideal book for clinicians who want to integrate action methods into their one-on-one sessions and trainers and teachers who want to acquaint their students with the versatility of psychodrama and action methods.

See Knittel's web site here for more details.

Another new web site, this one from Kate Hudgins, TEP

2011-11-29T08:21:00.000-06:00

Kate Hudgins, left, and Karen Carnabucci

Another web site of interest:

Kate Hudgins, Ph.D., TEP, has a beautiful new web site.

Kate is an internationally known psychodrama trainer as well as the developer of the Therapeutic Spiral Model, a treatment model that has adapted psychodrama with safety and containment measures especially for trauma survivors.

For the past 20 years she has traveled across the United States and around the world to teach her model. Most recently she has been training mental health professionals in China for the past 10 years and continues work with her Chinese students on Skype.

Here in the Midwest, many still remember her when she offered workshops in Madison and Black Earth, Wis., for many years before moving to Charlottesville, Va. She is the author of Experiential Treatment For PTSD: The Therapeutic Spiral Model with a new book to be published shortly.

Kate describes the Therapeutic Spiral Model as "experiential psychotherapy" which has much standard psychology research showing it is equally as good as cognitive behavioral therapy for more problems and even more effective for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She also refers to psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk and his writings on neurobiology and how psychodrama and the Therapeutic Spiral Model can change the brain because it experiential.

Her site offers numerous links on articles, research resources, books and more.

Meditation changes the brain. (And why psychodramatists can appreciate the study of mindfulness)

2011-11-17T08:08:00.000-06:00

Dr. Davidson and the Dalai Lama.

Richard J. Davidson, professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is one of many scientists on the forefront of neuroscience.

Neuroscience recognizes that our brain is impacted by our mental environment and how the heart and the brain are connected, giving new meaning to the mind, body and spirit connections that we talk so much about.

Dr. Davidson cites brain's amazing ability to change, both structurally and functionally, and maintains that we can think of happiness and compassion as skills that are no different from learning to play a musical instrument, or training in golf or tennis. Happiness, like any skill, requires practice and time but because we know that the brain is built to change in response to mental training, it is possible to train a mind to be happy.

In this video, filmed in 2009, he talks about the voluntary cultivation of compassion through the practice of mindfulness. His research findings show that a number of parts of the brain that are changed with meditation, particularly the amygdala, which strongly impacts our emotions.

As psychodramatists and professionals who value experiential psychotherapy, we can take this cheerful information as yet more proof that certain experiences create positive and important changes in the brain.

One video, below, with more resources and information on Dr. Davidson's work at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds.

Malidoma Some speaks of rituals in the West Africa tradition -- the roots of experiential therapy?

2011-11-01T12:28:00.000-05:00

Born in the African nation of Burkina Faso, Malidoma Some is the foremost teacher of African spirituality in the United States. He writes and travels to talk about the value of ritual, communion with nature and the necessity of the connection the ancestors.

I saw him on Saturday as one of the conference presenters at the U.S. Constellations conference in San Franscico, when he brought a message of hope, healing and reconciliation through the powerful tools of ritual and community building.

In this video, recorded at another time, he discusses how indigenous traditions, such as rituals, are relevant to modern society. Because rituals are experiential, I believe he is talking about the roots of what we call modern experiential therapies.

Teen acting group helps students reflect on bullying

2011-10-20T07:33:00.001-05:00

Here's a video from Bergen County, N.J., that spotlights the teen acting group Reflections, directed by my friend, colleague and licensed clinical social worker Staci Block. Staci is a regular at our national psychodrama conference, scheduled for next year in April.

The group reflections focuses on topics of interest to teens in an interactive and engaging way; among the topics are bullying. Staci says:

"I hope that the audience members can get some ideas about what is happening in their lives."

Still time to register for Constellations conference!

2011-10-14T13:14:00.001-05:00

Just two more weeks before the U.S. Constellations conference in San Francisco on Oct. 28-30. I am told that the big picture looks fantastic, and I am pleased to hear that as an advocate of the constellation approach and as a presenter.

I'll be bringing the slice of psychodrama to the buffet of presentations. My title is "The Warm-Up: A Psychodramatic Contribution to Constellation Work," which will focus about the value of the psychodramatic warm-up. Our new book, Integrating Psychodrama and Systemic Constellation Work: New Directions for Action Methods, Mind-Body Therapies and Energy Healing, will make its debut there.

If you have not visited the conference web site lately, go to USConstellations.com and breathe in all in. It’s really happening and it’s going to be great on so many levels -- there are many masters in the constellation field who will be presenting including Hunter Beaumont, Francesca Mason Boring, Heinz Stark, Dan Booth Cohen and Jane Peterson as well as others that value and teach about our connection to the ancestors like Malidoma Some and other pioneers like Gorden Wheeler, president of Esalen.

There is still time to register for the conference here.

Psychodrama is everywhere, including Palestine

2011-10-03T14:35:00.001-05:00

Lots of psychodrama videos coming our way!

This one runs about 17 minutes with interviews and scenes from Ursula Hauser's video of the group of psychodramatists in training with the School of Psychodrama Without Borders who just graduated from her program in Gaza, Palestine. It's in English with Spanish subtitles. Dr. Hauser, who is from Switzerland, also trains psychodramatists in Cuba and Costa Rica.

She writes more about the use of psychodrama to address war, occupation and and the post-war experience in Palestine with her article From Violence To Hope.

Gaza: Psychodrama without borders from P1856 on Vimeo.

Dr Wiener shows how action therapy saves marriages

2011-09-30T15:46:00.002-05:00

As we know, sometimes talk therapy isn't enough.

My friend and colleague Daniel Wiener demonstrates how to energize and enhance your couples work by incorporating specialized drama therapy and psychodramatic techniques that he has devised called Rehearsals for Growth™.

During the course of three sessions based on an actual case with a married couple, Dan demonstrates a series of safe, original and effective exercises which are interspersed with observations of the couple’s dynamics and rationale for his therapeutic choices.

This video offered by Psychotherapy.net is a rare opportunity to be a “fly on the wall” during multiple sessions with the same couple, enabling you to see how, over time, these potent improvisational techniques can help people move through significant conflicts into a renewed loving and playful connection.

Dan is a popular presenter at the annual psychodrama conference sponsored by the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama. His informative video gives great ideas to shift shift clients out of their stuck places and facilitate new possibilities for relating.

Finding humor in psychotherapy with Jude Treder-Wolff

2011-09-24T10:20:00.000-05:00

Real-life psychotherapist and expressive arts therapist Jude Treder-Wolff, finds humor in her helping jobs and regularly shows it off as a stand-up comedienne and singer. Jude, a native of Wisconsin who now lives in Long Island, New York, also has a one-woman show, "Crazytown."

Enjoy this clip:

The world of psychodrama, according to Marcia Karp

2011-09-02T06:51:00.003-05:00

Brilliant commentary from Marcia Karp, a leading international trainer of psychodrama, talking about the effectivness of psychorama and how it works as a "psychotherapy of relationships." She talks about role reversal, doubling, mirroring, trauma treatment and the value of group.

I studied with her years ago at the Holwell Centre for Psychodrama and Sociometry, Devon, England, and treasure those learnings and experiences to this day. She is a rock star in the world of psychodrama, bringing enormous creativity, sensitivity and depth to her sessions. She is originally from Stevens Point, Wis., and studied directly with Dr. J.L. Moreno before moving to England and bringing psychodrama there.

Clever video explains function of doubling for personal and social change

2011-08-19T10:54:00.000-05:00

Here's another great video.

Edmund Chow, of Applied Theatre in Singapore, created this fun video to explain a role play technique from psychodrama, called "doubling." Doubling is a tool to help clients articulate unexpressed feelings and thoughts. When the client hears it, he or she can change it accordingly - whether he or she agrees or not.

By expressing these unsaid thoughts and feelings, the client may receive clarity on his or her feelings, thoughts or behaviors. As a result, the community serves as a therapeutic witness also develops empathy for the protagonist.

Keep updated on expressive arts therapies with this newsletter

2011-08-11T15:31:00.000-05:00

Jessica Kingsley Publishers, the London-based publishing house that is a major proponent of creative therapies, has a new and exciting e-mail newsletter that will keep you updated on its most current offerings.

Here's the first issue of this Arts Therapies Newsletter which is a quarterly round-up of the publisher's new and forthcoming titles, upcoming events and illuminating contributions from JKP authors. This issue focuses on titles about poetry therapy, art therapy, music therapy, journaling and drama therapy. There's also a list of upcoming conferences and their links.

You can subscribe here. As a Jessica Kingsley Publishers author myself, I'm pleased to be associated with this organization.

Dr. Marlo explains the value of psychodrama

2011-08-09T08:15:00.003-05:00

Psychologist Marlo Archer explains the value of psychodrama in this YouTube Video:

Marlo now practices in Tempe, Ariz., but hails from the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wis. She attended parochial schools in the area where she says, "I began my psychology career in first grade . My first 'client' remains my dear friend to this day. In around the fifth grade, I found out that people got PAID to do what I was already doing and from that moment on, I knew I would be a psychologist. It was not, however, until the seventh grade, that I learned how to spell 'psychologist.'” Full bio, web site and services here.

Cleveland Psychodrama Institute has a web site now

2011-08-08T15:51:00.003-05:00

Connie Lawrence James

Thanks to the wonders of the wide world web, it's getting easier for all of us to share news and information about psychodrama.

One of the brand-newest web sites include the Cleveland Psychodrama Institute, which calls itself a center for learning and practicing the art of psychodrama and sociometry for counseling, groups, trial lawyering, teaching, coaching and self-discovery.

Founded in 2010, the Cleveland Psychodrama Institute is bringing networking and training in this leading-edge and effective method to northeastern Ohio, available to professionals who aspire to employ psychodrama, as well as people who long for deep and satisfying personal transformation. There are many useful links, including this link for attorneys who want to use psychodrama in trial setttings; see Dana Cole's article on Psychodrama and the Training of Trial Lawyers: Finding the Story.

The institute and its site are being organized by Connie Lawrence James, a licensed clinical social worker, certified experiential therapist and psychodrama trainee.

There's a positive link with psychodrama and addiction treatment

2011-07-31T12:12:00.001-05:00

Early psychodrama stage in hospital in
St. Louis, Mo.

Every so often, people want to know about the link between psychodrama and addiction treatment. Truth be told, addiction treatment centers have been pioneering the resurgence of psychodrama in the past 20 years and there is a growing body of material showing its effectiveness.

Check with Tian Dayton who has books on trauma and addiction, Trauma and Addiction: Ending the Cycle of Pain Through Emotional Literacy, and has worked as a consultant for Caron Treatment Centers in Wernersville, Pa.

Mimi Cox, a clinical social worker and TEP in Richmond, Va., works with addiction and has adapted the Therapeutic Spiral Model for addiction & recovery issues. Find information on The Therapeutic Spiral Model here.

Robert Fuhlrodt's book, Psychodrama: Its Application to ACOA and Substance Abuse Treatment, is a classic. He now specializes in sex addiction and may have more current resources & info, for you.

Arlene Story is the main psychodramatist at The Refuge, a treatment center in Florida, and has lots of experience in addiction and psychodrama. We hosted her for a special traininng workshop for the Midwest Training Series here at Lake House Health & Learning Center a few years ago; training programs on addiction are always well attended.

I've been running an alcohol-and-other-drugs group in the local women's shelter for the past three years -- a program that just ended due to loss of funding. I'm in the process of writing an e-book on what I learned and what I did specifically for the domestic violence population for others to adapt and use. Stay tuned!

Discovering a David Kipper interview about psychodrama

2011-06-16T09:32:00.000-05:00

David Kipper and workshop participants
in Turkey.

David Kipper played many roles in his life -- as psychodramatist, scholar, author, workshop trainer and professor -- plus husband, father and community leader in his adopted hometown of Chicago.

By profession, David A. Kipper was a clinical psychologist who, since 1995, held the position of research professor of psychology at Roosevelt University’s School of Psychology in Chicago. His interests involved role playing, psychodrama, small groups, experimental therapy, psychological trauma and the relation between emotional arousal and action.

Recently, while doing online research, I discovered a warm and interesting interview with David from Aug. 26, 2003 , as he talked about his experiences and thoughts with psychodrama. This interview took place at the Lutfi Kirdar Congress Centre in Istanbul, Turkey.

The interviewers sat with David after he presented his workshop “Psychodrama of Positive Experiences: An Experiential Reintegration Approach” earlier that day. David died in December 2010 at the age of 71 so this interview offers a bit of laughter and a rare window into his thoughts about psychodrama and memories of Dr. J.L. Moreno.

Find full interview here.

For eulogies and other information about David, see this web site.

Right brain, left brain? Adam Blatner weighs in

2011-06-10T10:36:00.001-05:00

Guest post from Adam Blatner, a psychiatrist and well beloved for many of his books explaning and interpreting J.L. Moreno's philosopy and the author of Foundations of Psychodrama: History, Theory, and Practice, Fourth Edition, Acting-In: Practical Applications of Psychodramatic Methods, Third Edition and The Art of Play: Helping Adults Reclaim Imagination and Spontaneity.

Left brain, right brain, yang and yin.

Now here's my plan: Let's develop the left brain so that it can more appropriately SERVE rather than dominate the right brain. Let's not assume either is more important: Heart and lungs. The term "syzygy" refers to two aspects that can only be understood relative each to its opposite: up and down, dark and light, front and back, here and there, male and female, abstract and concrete, etc. In that sense, the two parts of the mind are not exactly but almost a syzygy in terms of their optimal function:

The left brain builds a more enduring map, schema, frame of reference; it offers a grid within which the transience of experience may be grounded. The right brain offers much of the "juice," the heart, imagery, feeling, body awareness, etc. But the right brain alone cannot succeed in anchoring or truly integrating the experience.

Sometimes an experience, however intense, needs some talking, some finding of words, some ways of being integrated with several levels of more subtle catharsis:

Did what happen really happen?

Were those feelings? what were they?

Was that my story or was I just picking up feelings from others? (This is the problem in projective identification.)

How does it relate to my past, and how does it and my past relate to my present and anticipated or hoped-for-future?

Is this totally alien to others, or can I still feel a part of the group now that I've admitted these thoughts or feelings?

Does this fit into a wider scheme of my spiritual, religious, existential beliefs about what life is about?

All these questions involve anywhere from a slight to a good deal of "left-brain" re-hashing, talking with others about.

So I wanted to make a case for the right use of left brain.

Admittedly, in the 20th century, for most people, the left brain was over-used, or at least over-valued: If phenomena (often mediated or experienced by the right brain) couldn't be neatly defined it tended to be ignored, "marginalized."

Ironically, though the left brain was valued, as was information, knowing things, diplomas, etc., few people actually thought critically. What litte people did think, they tended to feel they were "really" thinking---and, compared to what they intuitively sensed as being thinking-less, they were. But as compared with those who think much more, the thinking (left brain) done by most foks is feeble, laced with illusions, not tightly coordinated. It's better-than-before-ness makes people think that they're thinking a lot.

While there are sub-cultures in which more right-brain functioning is discounted, there are other sub-cultures (such as in the creative arts therapies communities) where it is over-valued, and left brained thinking tends to be discounted. I think both types can be developed much more and also balanced.

7 fabulous tips for successful conference workshops from ASGPP

2011-05-27T11:06:00.001-05:00

The American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama has just put out its call for presentations for the 70th Annual Conference, scheduled April 19-23 in Jersey City, N.J. As you consider and write your proposals, here is a synthesis of comments from workshop evaluations for the 2010 conference, gathered by Cathy Nugent, chairperson of the ASGPP evaluations committee.

Without a doubt, these suggestions are valuable for any presentation, local, regional, national or international. Take note:

Elements correlated with high ratings across all workshops included the following:

Personal characteristics of the workshop leaders. Respondents valued warmth, ability to be present with the group, creativity, use of humor and expert knowledge of content as positive qualities of workshop leaders. When co-leaders were present, participants rated working “well together” as a positive attribute among co-leaders. Respondents also appreciated presenter attentiveness to rate of speech and appropriate speaking volume.

Balance of didactic material and experiential learning in the workshop. Participants had a favorable response to workshop leaders who focused both on presenting key teaching points and putting core ideas into action through demonstration.

Organization, focus and clarity. Respondents appreciate workshop leaders who were organized, had clear goals and objectives, and communicated major points with clarity.

Material's portability to one’s “back home” setting. Participants value workshops that provided material that was transferable to their own work settings. Respondents specifically noted an affinity for specific ideas and concrete skills, such as warm-ups or other action structures, that could be applied at home.

Handouts and reference materials. Participants comment favorably on the use of handouts. Respondents appreciated receiving reference material to enhance and expedite the didactic portion of the session, to reinforce learning. and to help with at-home application.

Attention to appropriate boundaries and containment for a conference presentation or workshop. Some respondents found some sessions “triggering” and felt unresolved at the workshop's conclusion. Participants indicated that care should be given to delinate boundaries and containment for a conference presentation or workshop versus those in a personal growth setting.

Clearly identify the deadline for prospoals and other requirements. Many a great proposal has been tossed due to lateness or incompleteness. Proposals for ASGPP must be received by July 15, 2011 to be considered. You will be notified regarding the disposition of your proposal in September 2011.

A tribute to Ron Anderson, psychodramatist of Wisconsin

2011-05-17T08:38:00.006-05:00

Ronald Anderson, the counselor who introduced hundreds, maybe thousands, of Midwesterners to psychodrama, died on Saturday, May 14, in Lake Geneva, Wis.

Actually, he introduced many good things to many people, including me. Ron was so kind and welcoming when I moved to Wisconsin 10 years ago, making it a point to help me meet many of his colleagues and the community of psychodramatists, creative arts therapists and others he thought I should know, then joined me to start a psychodrama and experiential therapy training group in Racine. Later, he introduced me to systemic constellation work, for which I am profoundly grateful, as it has enriched my professional practice and enlivened and deepened my personal life.

Ron started out as a child actor and became an ordained minister in the United Methodist denomination, then worked variously a street minister, church pastor, mental health administrator and substance abuse counselor. He found psychodrama, which combined his interests in theatre, psychology and spirituality, and studied with Dr. J.L. Moreno at Beacon, N.Y., and at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, D.C., and became a nationally certified trainer in psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy in 2000. Most recently he saw clients at New Prospects Counseling Services, Milwaukee.

He and his wife Adelia started the successful Midwest Conference on the Expressive Arts Therapies in Lake Geneva, introducing Midwesterners to psychodrama and the alternative and creative arts therapies for several years. For his 70th birthday celebration two years ago, he arranged a party where we dramatized special memories: his long-standing friendship with a boyhood pal; his "church ladies" in Wisconsin becoming mesmerized by young playboy Hugh Hefner who attended his church's dinners, meeting his future wife Adelia when she arrived for psychodrama training and later marrying her during an delightful outdoor ceremony, and others.

Ron won the Innovators Award in 2010 from American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama for his pioneering work in combining psychodrama and systemic constellation work and identified himself as the first person in the United States to be trained by both J.L. Moreno, the developer of psychodrama, and Bert Hellinger, the developer of Systemic Constellation Work. Among his other accomplishments he counted serving as president of Midwest Chapter of the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama from 1998-2002; hiking the Milford Track during four days over the Southern Alps of New Zealand in 1996 and winning the Ralph Nader Award in 1987.

Together we are the co-authors of Integrating Psychodrama and Systemic Constellation Work: New Directions for Action Methods, Mind-body Therapies and Energy Healing.
For those who knew Ron, an online guest book is available to sign here.

Psychodrama mixes well with systemic constellation work, and this new book shows how

2011-04-26T08:19:00.018-05:00

Systemic Constellation Work is a rapidly growing experiential healing process that is being embraced by a variety of helping professionals, both traditional and alternative, worldwide. I'm pleased to present the near-debut of our new book Integrating Psychodrama and Systemic Constellation Work: New Directions for Action Methods, Mind-body Therapies and Energy Healing.

This book, by myself and Ron Anderson, explores the history, principles and methodology of this approach, and offers a detailed comparison with psychodrama -- the original mind-body therapy -- explaining how each method can enhance the other. Constellation work is based on the notion that people are connected by unseen energetic forces and suggests that the psychological, traumatic and survival experiences of our ancestors are genetically passed forward to the next generation and may live within us.

Using insightful case studies from a variety of client groups, this book shows how Systemic Constellation Work can expand the possibilities of psychodrama techniques, and can be successfully integrated with psychodramatic enactment, guided imagery, ritual, concretization and other methods of healing and personal growth. This book will be essential reading for students and practitioners of psychodrama and constellation work, as well as counselors, mental health professionals, experiential therapists, creative and expressive arts therapists and alternative practitioners looking to widen their knowledge of mind-body therapies.

The book is scheduled for publication in Ncvember 2011; add your name to preorder the book here.

Join, keep updated and comment on the book's Facebook fan page.

Happy 90th birthday, psychodrama!

2011-04-01T11:29:00.002-05:00

In the annals of psychodrama history, Dr. J.L. Moreno considered his first "formal" psychodrama session on April 1, 1921 at Das Stegreifheater (The Theatre of Spontaneity) in Vienna. Yes, April Fool's Day, when he dressed as a jester and challenged his audience to take an empty "throne" to play the leader of the community.

If you saw Dateline on Sunday, you saw the report about the program known as Breakthough at Caron, where adults survivors of childhood abuse worked through their issues with what the reporter called ‘"therapy on steroids." Steve Kopp, my psychodrama colleague from Maryland and president of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the American Society of Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama, says, "For those of us who know, it was some basic work in family sculpting, working with social atoms and concretizing. And I thought, this stuff has been around 90 years -- long before we had steroids…"

Steve is celebrating Moreno's birthday today with a birthday cake in his office and a number of psychodrama quotes on his office door – a way to educate others about Moreno and psychodrama, some playful, some thoughtful. Several of them are from Moreno’s Prelude to My Autobiography.

Here's one:

More important than science is its result

One answer provokes a hundred questions.

More important than poetry is its result,
One poem invokes a hundred heroic acts.

More important than recognition is its result,
The result is pain and guilt

More important than procreation is the child,
More important than evolution of creation is the
evolution of the creator.

Dateline NBC spotlights experiential therapy at Pa. treatment center

2011-03-27T19:24:00.011-05:00

calls it "group therapy on steroids." Online, NBC broadcaster Keith Morrnison calls it "unorthodox group therapy." It's experiential therapy at an intensive residential program known as Breakthrough at the Caron Treatment Centers in Wernersville, Pa., for adults from alcoholic and chaotic homes. It's where I first discovered the power of experiential therapy back in 1985 in a program that was founded by visionary Ann Smith, the author of Grandchildren of Alcoholics: Another Generation of Co-Dependency, just a year earlier. Keith Morrison interviewed Ann and spent a week at the treatment center to film the group therapy for tonight's segment "Back From Nowhere."

Becoming acquainted with experiential therapy led me to become trained in psychodrama and to work as a group therapist at Caron from 1989 to 1992, later returning as a consulting therapist. The Dateline program aired tonight with my friends and colleagues Marilyn Hawn and Randy Gaul.

Here's Keith Mitchell's story focusing on John, one of the participants in the treatment program:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

You can see additonal scenes here.

Here's a mini-look at one clip with therapist Randy:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Moreno stage and Boughton Place seeking donations

2011-01-26T18:12:00.004-06:00

Do you remember the first time you stood on the legendary Moreno Stage?

Maybe you were at Beacon Hospital when J.L. Moreno and Zerka Moreno taught psychodrama to students flocking from throughout the United States and around the world to the small town of Beacon, N.Y. Maybe you first stepped on the stage after it was dismantled and reconstructed at Boughton Place, a retreat center in Highland, N.Y., where Zerka Moreno continued to teach until the late 1990s. Or maybe you've taken part as an actor with Playback Theatre or...

Boughton Place preserves and maintains the original psychodrama stage built by J.L. Moreno in 1936, minus the first tier that was too wide to fit into the space. The stage is recognized as a vital symbol of the world wide psychodrama community, and thousands of psychodrama participants -- including me -- have attended events there since 1986.

Boughton Place houses Hudson Valley Psychodrama Institute run by nationally known psychodramatists Rebecca Walters and Judy Swallow and has been used as a residential training center by Zerka Moreno, Jonathan Fox, Ann Hale, Dorothy and Mort Satten, Donna Little, Natalie Winters, Louise Lipman, Nan Nally-Seif, Connie Miller, Kate Hudgins and Susan Aaron. A non-profit organization, it has become an international training center for psychodramatists from around the world.

The board is now seeking financial donations to help with upkeep, repair, renovation and landscaping of the three-acre center. For more information about Boughton Place and how to make a donation, see this link.

A rare look at the first psychodramatic family

2011-01-23T09:36:00.002-06:00

"The First Psychodramatic Family," which has been long out of print, is now available courtesy of the North-West Psychodrama Association which has been bringing out the new J.L. Moreno series. This is a new edition of the book, originally co-written in 1964 by J.L. and Zerka Moreno and their son Jonathan. The book details charming stories of Moreno's birth and background for child-size ears and eyes, and Zerka tells how she used the role play techniques of doubling and role reversal to acquaint their young son with roles of parents and children and empathy. There are also many psychodramatic tales, including encounter with Freud, how President Franklin Roosevelt discovered sociometry and early demonstrations in psychodrama.

For details on this book and some excerpts, click here. Also available in this series are J.L. Moreno – The Theatre of Spontaneity and Impromptu edited by J.L.Moreno. All books are available in print and by download format

Three more classic Moreno titles will also soon be available on the same web site (http://www.lulu.com/) which are: "The Words of the Father," "Psychodrama Volume 2" and "Psychodrama Volume 3." Zoli Figusch is series editor.